Fishing floats or ‘bobbers’ are commonly used to establish and maintain the depth at which a bait or lure is held while fishing and to visually inform the fisherman that a fish is taking or has taken the bait. When there is no fish touching the bait, the float is motionless but when a fish is in the process of taking the bait, the float may move slightly or drastically, depending on how hard the fish is biting. The float may even be pulled under the surface of the water. Floats of various sizes, shapes, and colors are used depending on fishing conditions and upon the desires of the user. Especially in situations where a user may use two or more fishing poles at the same time or in crowded conditions where there are nearby fisherman, a float is use in indicating where ones bait is and thereby establishing a zone which should be avoided when casting other baits to a nearby area. A highly visible float is desirable.
Some floats are available which include light sources of various types for night time fishing. Such light sources are typically either chemically driven (for example . . . ‘glow sticks’) or electrically driven by battery.
Common problem encountered when casting a bait with a sinker and a float is that the portion of the fishing line below the float can become entangled with the line above the float. Sometimes, because the float and bait have been cast a long distance from the fisherman, a tangled line may not be visible to the fisherman. In this event, the fisherman has cast his bait and is under the impression that the bait is available to the fish at the depth set by the float. However, due to the tangled line, the bait is not at the correct depth and may even be wrapped around the float and totally invisible or unavailable to a fish. Worse, if the fisherman sees his float, but is unaware of a tangled line, he may think everything is okay and leave the tangled bait unavailable to fish for an extended period of time, thus missing out on any opportunity to catch of fish for that entire period of time.